It's not time to make a change

It's funny because I've always been a very opinionated person, but lately I've been feeling a little thrown for a loop on my opinions.

The quote above is from the song "Father and Son" which is set up in the classic argument between traditionality and idealism, thus, father and son.

An idealist is something I've always wanted to be. (We CAN become a peaceful little World! We can end genocide! The attitudes of men and women are essentially the same: its nurture, not nature that makes the difference. etc.)
The funny thing is that now that I've backed off a little I've noticed that maybe it's the idealism that's really hurting the World. Many who like to think of themselves as idealists say things along the lines of: Nothing's really right or wrong, it's all relevant, let's get rid of the classic system of civility - it obviously wasn't working!, Meh. Who's to say that eroticism isn't art?, The World would be better if it were set up in Freud's most wanted manner, etc.

Maybe Cat Stevens' father figure was right: it's not time to make a change. I'm finding myself ever more conforming with Aristotle's realist plan (to look at the institutions of government that already work and improve upon them) than Plato's idealist plan (to destroy the current government and set up a new one essentially ruled by aristocrats.) Aristotle's plan makes sense. Why not improve upon what we already have?